2015 January - April

We periodically post bulletins here to inform customers of developments within BC Hydro Transmission and/or the industry and/or to solicit feedback on policy changes. These announcements can be time sensitive, so please subscribe for the updates.

e-Tag 1.8.1.1 Retirement Reminder

Posted on April 22 , 4:17 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on March 23, 2015 entitled e-Tag 1.8.2 Industry Launch, BC Hydro would like to remind our OATT customers of the e-Tag version 1.8.1.1 retirement scheduled for April 30, 2015 at 23:00 PDT. Customers are advised to terminate all remaining 1.8.1.1 e-Tags that are active beyond the retirement date/time and create new 1.8.2 versions of the e-Tags by this time.

e-Tag vendors will configure the Authority Service to automatically terminate any outstanding e-Tags using the 1.8.1.1 version that were not terminated by the customer on or before the 1.8.1.1 retirement date. OATI will enter the termination request in webTag seven days prior to the retirement date to remind customers about what they must do. All outstanding 1.8.1.1 e-Tags will receive a termination request with the following comment:

"This tag is using 1.8.1.1. It will be terminated on May 01, 2015 at 00:00 CST. Please create a new tag if needed."

2015 Network Economy Meeting

Posted on April 14 , 4:32 p.m.

Pursuant to British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) Order No. G-127-06, Appendix 1, the BCUC directed BC Hydro, then BCTC, to convene annual Network Economy Meetings to discuss, on a "without prejudice" basis issues arising with respect to the use of Network Economy. A standing agenda item for these meetings is to review the use of, and continued requirement for, a different Trigger Price (as defined in Section 1, Attachment Q-2) for the November to February period.

For the last several years, BC Hydro solicited customer feedback to determine whether or not there was an interest to hold the annual meeting; there was a lack of interest in all years. However, in 2009 it was suggested that a meeting may not be necessary if BC Hydro prepared an annual Network Economy report showing trends and statistics along with explanations for the figures. Notwithstanding, it was requested that the requirement for an annual meeting remain in place. Subsequently, BC Hydro applied to the BCUC to not hold the Network Economy Annual Meeting in 2009 and to instead post an annual Network Economy report in lieu of holding the meeting, which was approved by the BCUC.

In 2010, BC Hydro requested permission from the BCUC to, again, not hold an annual Network Economy Meeting. Pursuant to BCUC Letter No. L-45-10, BC Hydro is only expected to convene an annual Network Economy Meeting if customers of BC Hydro expressly ask for a meeting by way of a letter to BC Hydro with a copy to the BCUC. BC Hydro is pleased to post its Annual Network Economy Report to Transmission Customers[PDF, 2 MB], which covers the same issues and in the same format as previous years. If, after reviewing the report, you believe an annual meeting is required, please send your letter to Brenda Ambrosi and copy the BCUC by April 29th, 2015.

Long Term Transmission Queue Updated

Posted on April 13 , 5:18 p.m.

The Long Term PTP Transmission Queue[PDF, 97 KB] has been updated. For details, please refer to the Document Change History section located at the end of the document.

e-Tag 1.8.2 Industry Launch Reminder

Posted on March 27 , 2:54 p.m.

BC Hydro would like to remind our OATT customers of the 1.8.2 Industry Launch scheduled for production release on March 30, 2015 at 23:00 PDT. For more details, please refer to the bulletin entitled e-Tag 1.8.2 Industry Launch posted on March 23, 2015.

Extended Windows for Good Friday

Posted on March 23 , 1:58 p.m.

BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows[DOC, 40 KB] for purchasing transmission for the new month beginning on Wednesday, April 1 and Good Friday, April 3, 2015.

BCUC Order on Replacement of Mid-Columbia Electricity Price Indices

Posted on March 13 , 12:54 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on January 16, 2015, the British Columbia Utilities Commission issued Order No. G-36-15 on February 13, 2015 approving BC Hydro’s Application to use of ICE Mid-C electricity price indices in certain Electric Tariff and the OATT rate calculations.

e-Tag 1.8.2 Industry Launch

Posted on March 11 , 3:48 p.m.

BC Hydro is pleased to advise its OATT customers that e-Tag version 1.8.2 is scheduled for production release on March 30, 2015 at 23:00 PDT as mandated by NAESB (North American Energy Standards Board). Customers are advised to coordinate their potential system changes and testing with their e-Tag vendor and/or IT personnel prior to this date, as appropriate. No outage to the OATI webTag system is expected for this release.

All e-Tags created before the scheduled production release date/time will be in version 1.8.1.1, and e-Tags created at and after that date/time will be in version 1.8.2. There will be no mixed mode of e-Tags; e-Tags will be processed in either version 1.8.1.1 or 1.8.2 based on creation time.

e-Tag 1.8.2 Highlights:

The current profile for a given time period will be computed as the minimum of the market level profile and the minimum of the last set reliability limit for each participant on the e-Tag. This change supports reliability profiles for each tag participant as opposed to just the last set reliability limit.

The tag author can specify a Network Integration Transmission Service (NITS) resource name and miscellaneous information associated with the NITS resource, along with the Transmission Allocation information. The OATI webTag user interface will be changed to display and enter this new information.

New ramp duration validations will be in place during e-Tag creation and profile change requests. For each pair of time ordered segments in the profile, if the stop time of the first time ordered segment is equal to the start time of the second time ordered segment, then the ramp stop duration of the first time ordered segment must equal the ramp start duration of the second time ordered segment.

Any Market Operator on the physical path can now adjust the market profile as opposed to only those market operators in whose Balancing Area the transaction is sourcing or sinking.

With a Successful Release of e-Tag 1.8.2:
The e-Tag version 1.8.1.1 retirement will be April 30, 2015 at 23:00 PDT. Customers are advised to terminate all remaining 1.8.1.1 e-Tags that are active beyond the retirement date/time and create new 1.8.2 versions of the e-Tags by this time.

e-Tag vendors will configure the Authority Service to automatically terminate any outstanding e-Tags using the 1.8.1.1 version that were not terminated by the customer on or before the 1.8.1.1 retirement date. OATI will enter the termination request in webTag seven days prior to the retirement date to remind customers about what they must do. All outstanding 1.8.1.1 e-Tags will receive a termination request with the following comment:

"This tag is using 1.8.1.1. It will be terminated on May 01, 2015 at 00:00 CST. Please create a new tag if needed."

e-Tag vendors will not automatically create a replacement for the terminated e-Tag. Customers are responsible for creating replacement e-Tags in version 1.8.2, which can be done between March 30, 2015 at 23:00 PDT and April 30, 2015 at 23:00 PDT.

With an Unsuccessful Release of e-Tag 1.8.2:
If system issues are encountered during the e-Tag 1.8.2 release and a rollback to e-Tag 1.8.1.1 is deemed necessary, NAESB will make this rollback decision within 30 minutes of the cutover time and the rollback will be completed within 1 hour of the cutover time. All e-Tags created after cutover and up to the point of rollback will be terminated by the system.

A time zone table indicating the implementation date/time of e-Tag 1.8.2 and the retirement date/time of e-Tag 1.8.1.1 is below for convenience purposes.

Time Zone

e-Tag 1.8.2 Implementation Date/Time

e-Tag 1.8.1.1 Retirement Date/Time

Daylight

Daylight

Pacific

March 30, 2015 23:00

April 30, 2015 23:00

Mountain

March 31, 2015 00:00

May 01, 2015 00:00

Central

March 31, 2015 01:00

May 01, 2015 01:00

Eastern

March 31, 2015 02:00

May 01, 2015 02:00

Atlantic

March 31, 2015 03:00

May 01, 2015 03:00

For further questions regarding this change and the industry launch, please contact Brenda Ambrosi at Brenda.Ambrosi@bchydro.com.

Extended Windows for Presidents' Day

Posted on January 29 , 1:41 p.m.

BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows[DOC, 46 KB] for purchasing transmission for Presidents' Day, Monday, February 16, 2015.

Application to Replace Platts Mid Columbia Indices

Posted on January 16 , 11:18 a.m.

BC Hydro advises that it intends to file an Application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission for approval of amendments to BC Hydro's Electric Tariff and OATT to discontinue the use of the Platts, McGraw Hill Financial (Platts) U.S. Electricity Price Indices that are used to calculate certain rates under each of the tariffs (Application). In the Application, BC Hydro proposes that all references to the Platts Mid Columbia (Mid C) Electricity Price Indices for high load hours (HLH), low load hours (LLH) and Sundays and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) holidays be replaced with the equivalent index published by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) index. The rate schedules and tariff supplements to be amended are as follows:

Electric Tariff:

RS 1253 – Distribution Service – IPP Station Service

RS 1853 – Transmission Service – IPP Station Service

TS 54 Modified Demand Agreement – RS 1852

OATT:

RS 06 – Energy Imbalance Service

RS 09 – Loss Compensation Service (LCS)

TS 80 – Network Economy

BC Hydro will endeavor to address any comments received from interested parties up to close of business on January 30, 2015. Comments can be submitted by email to bchydroregulatorygroup@bchydro.com.